


Bending the Eyes of Steel

by Minioma



Series: Fallout 4: Elizabeth Martin [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Action, Character Development, Humor, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27104098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minioma/pseuds/Minioma
Summary: “I see people in steel… in trouble, surrounded by the wild devourers. Two are fleeing for help. You need to help them, kid. You need to convince the one who will become your aid, your messenger to those who will not listen to your friends. But she will be afraid. Uncertain. Use your kindness, use your guidance. Challenge her. Make her see with new eyes.”
Series: Fallout 4: Elizabeth Martin [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972639





	1. Call for Help

From far it was easy to distinguish two metallic humanoids running across the crumbled streets, through broken apartment houses, heading east. These weren’t robots though, only people protected by armor of steel. Two brave Knight wandering off, in hurry, in desperation, to seek help.

The metallic footfalls slowed down. After long running, both of them were getting exhausted.

“Knight Arin, we should find cover. We can’t stand in open like this”, the other Knight said to his leading sister in arms.

Knight Arin denied her fellow brother’s suggestion. “Negative, soldier! We need to keep moving. We have to find any help possible. Or any way of communication. We can’t rest now!”

“Arin, please, we can’t keep on moving forever. If we do, we leave ourselves vulnerable for attack.”

The other Knight was right. For moving such long distance in such rapid pace, Arin as well as her fellow were tiring, despite their suits giving them the extra lift to move for further distances. However, her blind determination was getting the best of her. She had to carry out her mission, for the best of others.

“We are moving, just a little longer”, she announced picking up her pace, forcing her fellow brother to keep up the best he could.

“Metal men! Smash the metal men!” sounded a loud rough yell.

Right after that the bullet rain attacked the soldiers from the windows and holes of the apartments. The two Knights took a ran for it, but not without being chased by the pursuing pack of super mutants.

There was no way they could turn and attack back. No way to run forever ether, seeing how fast those freaks caught on to tiring soldiers. They had to hide.

Arin led her fellow to an abandoned factory: Big enough place to hide temporarily and maybe perform a counterattack or an ambush.

Arin and her companion had only a few minutes to prepare. Without a moment to lose they ran through the small corridors until they got to the reactor room. Enough space to hide them with their power armors on, but a dangerous place to fight in. As swiftly as their suits let them move, they hid behind one of the energy generators.

“No shooting!” Arin warned. “One single hit and this whole place could blow up sky-high.”  
Right after her warning they froze like mice when they heard approaching noise.

“Metal men hiding. Come out, come out, or we come in and smash!”

With their backs against the metal wall that hid them from murderous monsters both soldiers did their best to stay still. However, the other Knight couldn’t help but shake.

“Metal men hide behind metal walls. Search them all!”

Heavy footsteps approached from both sides.

The other Knight clang to his energy pistol, desperate to use it.

Arin saw this and demandingly shook her head at him.

Grunts and deep breathing sounded from one side of the generator. A shadow of a giant figure was cast on the floor. By the looks of it, the creature carried a huge hammer with it.

Like a cornered dog the other Knight broke. As soon as the ugly mug appeared in view, he blasted his first shot. Direct hit. This gave the soldier false hope and he jumped out of his hideout and attacked the other mutants.

“No! Back off!” Arin ordered but to no avail.

All chaos was unleashed. Mutants shooting at one brave and another fleeing Knight. The song of roars, energy blasts and reflecting bullets sounded all around the reactor room. Whether it was by the fault of the super mutants or the Knight, one of them eventually ended the short song when a generator got hit on its weak spot and blew up. Bullet-like metal pieces flew in all directions, ether hitting a living being on their way or another generator, sending another portion of death scrap flying. One after another the old machines broke, lighting up the surroundings with their infernal fire, falling over under their weight. One of the generators fell and caught one of the Knight, enabling her from moving.

Arin tried to push herself up but her power armor would not budge. She managed to move her own limbs just fine but the metallic parts, they were jammed. She was trapped not only under the small rubble, but inside her suit as well.

In a hurry she looked around. The cracking of flames and bending hot metal sounded all around her and almost blinded her vision with its brightness. The mutants, they were all dead or withering from blood, filled with ether holes from metal chips or tears from energy weapon. Her partner, her brother in arms: deceased. The blasts had taken him as well. Now there was just her, and probably not for long.

The fire was spreading.

Arin pushed and squirmed, in desperation and panic trying to ether get her suit working again or get herself out of it. Futile, as none of her efforts paid any results. She could not escape. The desperation turned to fear and fear turned to panic.

“Help, someone! Help!” she wailed and screamed.

The fire was heating up, and she could feel it through her armor. With no helmet to protect her from lethal gasses she started to cough and choke for lack of air. The vision was getting blurry. The unconsciousness was taking over.

No. This could not end like this. She had friends, her _family_ , she swore to save. She had to finish her missions. She just had to!

One more push and one more effort. Nothing. She was tiring. She was defenseless. About to be swallowed by fire or her heating suit. All alone. Useless. About to vanish.

Along with cracks, and creaking metal she heard another set of sounds right behind her. Rubbles, bending of valve and then pumping of a piston. Right then she felt how the suit around her loosened its grip around her. A wave of heat wrapped around her like a blanket. Then she felt a pair of bony spiders around her, which pulled her up. Then another pair, only much more thinner, one being cold and hard like metal.

This was it. The death had come for her, and was dragging her to afterlife.

Knight Arin had deceased while on mission. As a failure, as a disappointment to the Brotherhood of Steel.


	2. Answer to Help

With no brothers and sisters, she had no family.

With no reason, she had no purpose.

With no struggle, she had no strength.

With no armor, she had no protection.

With nothing, you could start over.

“Arin, you have proven your worth to be the protector of mankind. You will keep the humanity safe not only from the pollution and dangers of this radiated world, but themselves as well. All technology, that is deemed too dangerous or complicated for them to use, you will confiscate and bring to use, for safekeeping and improvement of our knowledge. Do this, you will become proud member of our family. Prove your loyalty and we will come to your aid whenever you need us. Now I ask you, Knight Arin: Will you dedicate your life to the Brotherhood of Steel?”

“Yes, sir.”

In front of Arin’s open eyes danced flames. Tame flames that were surrounded by rock, not being able to escape from twigs and logs they held onto. Aside from their soothing creaking and popping, the Knight heard other sounds. Talking. Both very human-like but with a disturbing pinch in both of them.

“Well I’m telling you: if I screw right here, the coolant gets more effective and no heat can hurt me”, said a very old voice, which sounded very worn out.

“But does it work other way around? Can you become, well, you know… hotter?” said the other, much rasher and huskier.

“What for?”

“Just imagine. Cold winter. Me frozen to the bones and then you giving me a really sweet, warm hug.”

“That, or you could just dress up more warmly.”

“Especially in something else than in antique rags!” added a third, female voice.

The curiosity forced Arin to wake up. Immediately she regretted her decision.

“Aah!” She yelled in panic. Her limbs moved on her own, dragging her backwards across the dusty ground, until her back hit a hard and cold surface of broken cement wall. No matter how hard she struggled she could not get any further from unhuman eyes that all stared at her. One belonging to a ghoul, the other to a robot-like synth. This was her worst nightmare: Being captured by the monstrous enemies.

“Well, that’s one effective way to wake up!” laughed the ghoul.

“You alright there, soldier?” asked the synth, beast-like glowing yellow eyes tightly locked on its target.

Arin could not talk. She did not know what to say.

“Hey! Molerat got your tongue, brother?” the ghoul asked maintaining that mocking tone.

“Um, hate to break it to you, but that’s a woman”, the synth corrected him.

“A woman?” the ghoul said and turned his head, eyeing Arin from head to toes, studying her giant muscular form that lacked any femininity. “Shit! You gotta be the manliest woman I’ve ever seen. What did they do to you in Brotherhood, sister? Fed you with actual steel or something?”

This whole situation. It was abnormal! Why did these two abominations talk to her so… casually? Was this some sort of trickery? No way! These things couldn’t be that smart to outwit a Brotherhood soldier. Why did they talk to her so casually if they knew she was a Brotherhood soldier; their enemy.

“Cut it out, guys, she’s already scared out of her mind”, sounded the female voice.

Behind the fire Arin noticed the figure she did not see earlier. A human woman, dressed in military outfit that was a few sizes bigger than her and blue pants that looked to be made of some unknown material. Of course! Another synth! A more humanlike who could blend in with the usual crowd. It had to be; otherwise why would she hang around with these two freaks? All that was missing from this gang of misfits was a super mutant for a complete heart-attack to take over this soldier.

The female walked around the fireplace right to Arin, who was still scared and mute.

“Sorry for those two numb-nuts. Are you all right? Don’t feel sick? Hurt?”

“W-why? What do you want from me?!” Arin asked when she managed to muster some courage back within her.

“Nothing. Calm down. You might still be weak, since you were unconscious when we got you out of that burning building.”

“Wasn’t that easy. You sure did pack some weight in those muscles”, the more robotic old looking synth added.

“We thought you might had needed some help when we saw you running away from those mutants”, the woman added.

Help? Did these…freaks, really just help her? But why? What are they after? What does it benefit to save a life of a Brotherhood soldier?

Arin’s silence made the female synth took a step back and cough in her fist.

“I guess we should start properly from the beginning. My name is Elizabeth”, she said placing her hand on her chest, then pointed it at one of her companions. “That man there is Nick Valentine.”

“Evening”, it greeted.

The old yellow-eyed synth in trench coat and fedora waved its hand at her, which made Arin jolt. The other hand had no skin on, only metallic exoskeleton was left.

“This one is John Hancock”, Elizabeth said pointing at the ghoul.

“ _Mayor_ John Hancock. How’s it going?” it said nodding up its chin as a greeting.

Only now Arin saw what ghoul dressed in old-fashioned red coat and leathery three-cornered hat was fiddling in its hands. A sharp combat knife it shifted and circled around its folded and melted hand and fingers. With a pleased smile like that drawn across its hideous mouth Arin could only imagine how much that thing must love to use its weapon, especially on something living and breathing like her.

“This here is Dogmeat”, the woman said pointing at a sitting creature that was left completely unnoticed by the Brotherhood soldier. A dog. A normal, tame unirradiated dog.

It panted and stared at Arin with its curious dark eyes, once in a while looking away at others when it heard them talking or moving. It wasn’t locked on her, so maybe it wasn’t going to attack her. Unless maybe when ordered to.

“And who are you?” the woman asked Arin lastly.

“I… I am Arin”, she said, but kept quiet about her rank and loyalty.

“You’re from Brotherhood, aren’t you?” the woman asked her.

“How, how did you know?”

“You had a symbol painted on your armor. Wasn’t it the same one, Nick?”

“Sure was. I could differentiate it from anything, sadly”, the obvious synth told, showing to possess much more knowledge on the subject than the woman. “You got separated from your group or what, missy?”

“That’s classified!” Arin forced herself to say. She had to show some confidence so she wouldn’t look too defenseless.

“Whoa, hold on. There no need to get hostile”, the woman effortlessly tried to calm her.

“You have no right to hold me hostage! I won’t tell you anything, freaks!”

The soldier might had gone a bit far with her false courage, because the last word might had crossed the line, as the atmosphere became much more darker and pressuring.   
“Look here, Big Girl…” the ghoul said with a lot harsher voice than usual and pointed its knife at her while narrowing its black eyes at her.

The Brotherhood soldier put a hand in front of her chest, even though the two of them had a distance of three meters.

The ghoul realized what it was pointing her with. To Arin’s surprise it took its weapon away and replaced the pointing knife with its accusing thin finger.

“You ain’t no hostage. We ain’t keeping you here. You can go whenever you want. In fact, the sooner the better! You feel me?”

“Hancock!” the woman complained at the ghoul.

“What? I ain’t cuddling with no Brotherhood soldiers unless they don’t show any goddamn respect”, it complained back with arms crossed, lacking now any previous humor in its tone. “Be happy we even bothered to save your sorry ass, army gal.”

“Why… why did you save me then?” the soldier woman asked curiously.

“Why wouldn’t we?” the old synth answered, much more calmly than its dead-looking fellow. “It’s not like there was anyone else coming to your aid.”

“So… I can go? Now? For sure?” she reassured.

“Sure. Unless you don’t need anything else”, the woman said.

“So long”, the robotic synth said nodding slightly at the woman.

“See ya around, Big Girl”, added the ghoul giving a light hand-wave as a good bye, without paying any more politeness than that.

Feeling no pressure of being a captive, Arin dared to stood up. With her height she towered a head higher than the woman in front of her and even seemed to impress the ghoul. The old synth however wasn’t that taken aback, considering by his posture and long limbs, he must had been the same size as the Brotherhood soldier, if not slightly taller. Just like all the other synths, made to look as intimidating as possible.

“I hope you’ll be fine”, finished the woman who slowly turned around to join her companions around the fire.

Arin had no more direct attention addressed towards her. The whole team of three freaks were now discussing matters of their own. Arin was free to go. However, she oddly enough was reluctant to leave the circle of the worst people she could even imagine sharing her time with. The dangerous world with mutated ambushers seemed much less appealing to face than this gang. These things. These were the monsters she dealt with most of her life in Brotherhood. However, they didn’t act like monsters. No monsters would help a human, specially someone they knew was their enemy. The mutants she escaped from, those were monsters. They did not care to help, nobody did. Nobody, except there people. This… This was the best she could find.

“Missing something, miss?” the robotic synth asked, breaking her thoughts.

“I, I was just wondering…” she started, not sure how to continue. The others were polite enough to give her time to pick the right words. She decided to compensate her earlier rudeness by compliments, in hopes that she could regain their trust. “Since you are locals and know how to survive, so much so that you manage to help others than yourselves, you must be the best I could find. Please, if you may be so generous, can you help me a little more? I was sent to look for someone to aid me and my team.”

“Your team? You mean there are more Brotherhood soldiers somewhere?” the woman asked.

“Yes, a few only left. We need reinforcement or way to get contact to our other comrades.”

“Well, not to sound neglecting, but aren’t we a bit unqualified type to help you folks”, asked the old synth.

“I have no one else to ask. Nor do I believe to last long enough to find anyone else.”

“What makes you so sure we want to help?” the skeptical ghoul asked. “Especially after getting a “gratitude” like that from you. We ain’t taking bullets in our head for payment, ya know.”

“You won’t get such inhospitality from us. I promise you that. I won’t allow it to happen”, she answered desperately, fearing to lose the last aid she gets.

“What do you think, guys? Nick?” asked the woman, turning to her fellows.

The decayed machine shrugged slightly.

“I won’t mind as long as the others know to play nice.”

“Hancock?”

“Sure”, he said a little begrudgingly. “But not without my teeth tightened together. So don’t wonder if you hear a chip in my mouth.”

“Your not turning your back on a another adventure and troublemaking, are you, Hancock?”

“Well, if you put it like that. Fine then”, it said just a little bit more enthusiastically, enough to make it sound less threatening.

“So”, the woman asked turning at Arin. “Where are your friends in trouble?”


	3. Accept the Help

At some point the gunfire and ordering yells served as last guide after Knight Arin lead her aiding acquaintances to where her team last stopped, the Cambridge Police Station. The place was well barricaded before, but now it was all crumbling down.

“My brothers, sisters… the ferals are attacking!” Arin voiced out shaking as she heard those threatening screeches and roars, as those ferocious beasts tried to climb over the barricade or through holes to attack and sink their teeth in the flesh of her family members.

“Ah, so it’s time for the Mayor do a community service”, the red-coated ghoul announces eagerly, ready for bloodshed as it pulled out its knife and marched toward.

“Hold it there, braindead!” the woman in blue pants said, stopping the ghoul by grabbing onto its coat-collar. “You go any closer, those Brotherhood guys are going to shoot you with the rest of the others. Let’s lure some of them so we can handle them away from the fire range.”

“Well, we all know what that means, right? Live bait”, the ghoul said giving an odd wide grin at the woman in charge of the whole team.

“Me? Why not Nick?”

“Well, I might not be that appetizing looking than you, kid”, the synth explained. “No offence, of course. And we do need to get their attention the best way possible, right?”  
The woman let out a loud, annoyed groan. Despite her unpleased reaction she did though as they planned and stood on an open field, ready to face the thread all alone.

Arin was absolutely terrified and confused. Live bait? Did the plan really include sacrificing a member of the team? How barbaric!

On the other side of the barricade the struggle became unbearable and exhausting. The weapons were running out of ammo. People inside the protective armors were tiring. Even their leader could barely stand and motivate his last two people.

“Hold your positions! Knight Rhys, clear the entrance! Scribe Haylen cover from the east!”

The hoard of abominations showed no signs of reducing their numbers. Many of them already reached to arm-distance, being even able to tackle a member with no power-armor. Some latched on to armored leader, trying to pull and scratch to rip the protective helmet off so they could bite into soft flesh of a human. Getting a good grip on the disgusting feral and smashing their skulls open seized their attempt to uncover the Brotherhood soldier, but only momentarily.

The leader had to face the horrible truth. They were losing their battlegrounds. If they stayed put any longer, they would be left fatigued and defenseless. They had to retrieve to their shelter, inside the police station. It would be the last stand. After that, the battle would be lost.

Another hoard was getting pass the barricade. The leader was about to voice out his command, when he heard someone else yell in a loud voice.

“Hey you! Yeah, you, the ugly ones! Come and get some! ¡Vamos! ¡Vamos! ¡Ven aca!”

In addition, barking was heard.

The constant yelling and noise seemed to catch the attention of the beasts who were just at the barricade, looking somewhere no one at the police station entrance was able to see.

Like deathclaws who just saw a juicy helpless brahmin, some of the creatures shifted their attention to much more easier meal and left the rest to struggle with the Brotherhood soldiers.

While shooting and killing the rest, the leader listened closely what happened at the other side. Gun shots. From handguns. And yells. Joyful yells and cheers.

The rate of attacking ghouls withered, until ended completely. The fight on the other side however still kept on going, while also steadily eased down.

The leader had to know what was happening on the other side. He ran across shaky bridge over which he could saw the street.

Dead feral ghouls were lying all over the tiled ground, dropping one by one as one of them passed them over. It was sentient and non-feral ghoul, wearing really historical outfit. Having the benefit of not being interesting to its own kind, turning completely invisible, it could easily with no disturbance cut the throats or stab the abominations while making a ridiculous turns and hops, like the thing was actually dancing.

Even more fell down as some unknown force shot these monster’s heads.

The leader searched with his gaze until he found the course. Two figures, one tall, robotic synth and one woman in old-fashioned military outfit, both firing from ruins, high enough from the ferals, that tried to reach for an easy meal, all in futile.

Eventually, the thread was eliminated. The gunshots stopped and the odd non-feral ghoul finished off the last of its kind, saving the two gunmen from wasting their bullets. The less there were nasty growls the clearer the Brotherhood soldier could hear the non-feral ghoul humming as it danced around. Were his ears betraying him or was it singing “Battle Hymm of the Republic”? As it sang the last verse it finished of the last feral.

“That surely got me sweaty. You guys alright there?” the non-feral asked the figures up in the ruins.

“All fine and good”, the synth replied as he and his companion climbed down.

“Arin, you alright?” the woman called deeper into the ruins.

From the shadows jumped out a docile dog, the cause of all feral turning their attention elsewhere.

The leader of the Brotherhood gasped. Knight Arin emerged from the shadows, stripped of her power armor, frightened and looking more vulnerable than ever. Instinctively the leader pointed his gun at the three strangers.

“Hold still where you are!”

In a moment all three looked at the man and slightly raised their arms. The woman stepped forward.

“We’re not the enemies! We are here to help!”

“Paladin Danse, lower your weapon, they are with me”, Arin yelled stepping in between.

The leader, Paladin Danse, hesitated, but obeyed his comrade’s beg.

The dust of battle had long settled down, bud sadly, the heat of argument was just about to blow up inside the police station.

“That is absolutely out of question, Knight! We are not accepting any help from these freaks”, the Paladin announced hard on his every word he said to his lower ranked sister-in-arm, who was more than ashamed of failing her mission.

“Hey, it’s because of these “freaks” your asses are now secured, Tinman!” the ghoul growled getting hushed down by the military-coated woman, who had to be the leader of their group.

“There is some sense in what it… the Mayor says, Paladin Danse. They all did end up eliminating the threatening ferals, after all”, Arin dared to validate. “Not to mention, they are locals, they know their own grounds the best. We are but intruders in unknown lands.”

“Your words do carry meaning, soldier. However, you are leaving out the fact that these are dangerous inhuman being who could end up slowing us down or even posing a thread.”

“I understand that completely. But, in a situation like this, do we really have that much of a choice? Besides, most likely they wouldn’t had even bothered to help us thus far, so why not continue so we could complete our mission.”

The determined and tenacious Paladin took another glance at the misfit group. Every one of them represented everything he and his whole team had been taught to avoid and terminate. It was too big of a stem to suddenly change their course of actions.

“So, what else can you provide us with except the supposed skills I already saw?”

“Well, the sniper is my best skill out there thus far. And some knowledge on certain building and history”, the woman answered, a little bit unsure.

“The knife ain’t the only one I can dance with?” the ghoul pointed out while showing the shotgun tied to his back.

“If you need some help with high tech, I might be the right man to ask. Or if you need help in hacking”, Nick replied, offering something the Paladin might be most interested.

And indeed he was.

“Hacking? Hmm, interesting…” Paladin Danse said amazed, before starting to ponder.

“Sir?” Arin asked, wondering what caught the attention of his commander.

“That… _could_ prove beneficial. Maybe. I’d have to see it myself.” And with that the higher soldier turned away towards the desk all the weapons were settled. He took the power armor helmet and held it in his hands, while giving away the next order. “We will move out at once before it gets dark. No point wasting any hours.”

“Where are you off to?” Arin questioned.

“To the ArcJet Systems, like scribe Haylen said. You three better get prepared. Arin, you stay in charge while I’m away.”

“Paladin, if I may… I have to come too. You’ll be all alone there”, she replied sounding slightly sheepish after her last night’s experience.

“Knight Arin!” Paladin Danse ordered firmly. “You have no weapons nor armor. You won’t last long in the field, as won’t the others. You must stay here in safety and look after them. Can I count on you with that task?”

In the last sentence Arin heard hopefulness. That was something she could not deny obeying.

“Yes, you can, Paladin Danse, sir.”

“Thank you, Knight”, he answered glad of her answer and respect she was giving. After that he turned towards the new group he was about to lead. “As for you. I hope you will follow my lead precisely and with no delay. I will offer you my defenses but you better not rely on it. If I however detect any signs of betrayal, going savage or malfunction, I will neutralize the appeared thread immediately. Understood?”

The woman, ghoul and synth agreed, more or less enthusiastically than the other.

Before leaving, Paladin Danse geared up and prepared his weapons. This gave enough time for Arin to slip in the last request she had to the woman.

“Please, I beg of you. Keep him safe. Paladin Danse is the only one who had kept us alive and organized thus far. He is a very important and respected member in our team. In whole Brotherhood.”

The woman gave a reassuring smile.

“We will do our best. I promise. Maybe… just maybe some needed teamwork could give him some perspective.”

“I doubt it will work”, Arin said sorrowfully.

“Well, it did work on you, didn’t it? We wouldn’t have this job if you didn’t dare to recommend us.”

Arin was unsure what to say. It was because of the pressure and desperation, right?

“Don’t sweat it, Big Girl”, the ghoul replied, startling her slightly when he spoke so suddenly. “Your commander ain’t gonna lose a single bolt. It’s not like that thick metal plating of his is even possible to chew through. More likely he’ll be the one smashing us into dust if he feels like it.”

“And don’t worry, as long as he ain’t gonna be looking at us like sudden target dummies, we’ll manage to tolerate him” the synth added.

“T-thank you”, the Knight said hesitantly, but absolutely gratefully.

“Alright, enough with the chit-chatting! Follow me, and try not to lag behind!” said the robotic voice as a giant sentry-bot-like human figure walked out.

The new crew sounded their last goodbyes.

“Stay safe, Knight Arin”, the military woman encouraged and left.

“Stay safe, Miss Martin. Stay all safe.”

The heavy stumps and pumping of pistons from massive power armor steadily quieted down, and so did the four figures and one smaller canine shrunk into dots, before disappearing from sight. Whatever there was ahead, Arin hoped, let it not end. Not yet, at least. Hopefully, there is yet to see more.


End file.
